We had a very busy week in our classroom. The students are settled in and working really hard. Way to go 3A!
Star Student
Congratulations to 3A's first Star Student. We enjoyed getting to know you better this week! Also thank you so much for all of your help around the classroom. You made an excellent star student and you were a wonderful role model for the class!
Reading Workshop
During our Reading Workshop mini lessons this week we focused on Comprehension. We discussed that "Reading is Thinking." Research has shown that simply having students read more is not enough to improve reading skills. Students need to be engaged in thinking about their reading.
One important comprehension strategy we want to teach our kids is asking questions. Questions like, “I wonder why…?” or “What does ___ mean?” keep us wanting to read to find out answers. Our curiosity compels us to find the answers. Learning to ask questions during the reading process is an important strategy because it teaches a reader to think aloud. I modeled how to ask questions throughout the reading process while reading The Empty Pot.
The Empty Pot by Demi is a fantastic little book that teaches the value of honesty, but the author gets kids guessing along the way. Why didn’t his seed grow? What will happen when he goes before the Emperor? Why did all the other kids’ seeds grow into beautiful flowers?
I also read More Than Any Thing Else by Marie Bradby. This book gets kids asking questions simply because it is not written in our time period. It’s also great because kids have to infer what exactly he wants to do more than anything as it’s not completely revealed until the end of the book.
Word of the Day
Each day I introduce a new word to increase my students vocabulary. We discuss the meaning of the word and try to use it in our spoken and written vocabulary throughout the day. Please ask your child to share the word of the day when they come home from school.
Writing Workshop
During journal writing on Monday the students responded to the prompt "Tell me 5 things I don't know about you." The students were excited to share 5 interesting facts about themselves.
I Am Excited For Grade 3
You may notice that as the year progresses not a lot of artwork or writing projects are coming home. These special activities are being complied into a memory album that will be sent home at the end of the year. This week the students worked on a page for their album about why they are excited for Grade 3.
"I Am" Art Project
This week we started our "I Am" art project. First, I read the story "I'm Gonna Like Me" by Jamie Lee Curtis. This is a great book about teaching children that the key to feeling good is liking yourself because you are you.
The poems will be written on the primary colour paintings that we did in art on Friday.
Back and Forth Journal
On Friday we filled in our first "Back and Forth" journal entry. The purpose of the Back and Forth journal is two fold. First, it will help keep you in the loop with regard to what your child is doing on a weekly basis. It will also help to improve your child's writing skills.
As a class we brain stormed activities that your child participated in this week. I made a list on the board, in point form, of these activities. I then modeled how to take these point form ideas and make them into complete sentences. Your child then copied these sentences from the board and wrote them in their Back and Forth journal. In my experience, giving the students an exemplar and modeling the sentences for the first entry has been very beneficial. Next week I may give the students their few sentences. However it will their responsibility to write the rest on their own.
The students were so excited to share what they did in school during the week and they can't wait for you to write back to them! I give the students class time every Monday to read their journal responses. Please be sure to respond to your child as it can be very disappointing for the students if they have nothing to read back from you. Thanks in advance for your participation.
Handwriting
We continued to work on our cursive writing by learning how to form the letter D.
The students also completed writing and math assessments required by Black Gold Regional Schools this week. These assessments are division wide screening tools used by all schools in the district.
Math
This week in math the following goals were covered:
Patterning Lesson #4 - Number Patterns Made by Subtracting
- find a number that is less than another number by a given difference.
- extend number patterns made by subtracting a constant difference.
- solve word problems involving number patterns made by subtracting
- distinguish between growing and shrinking (increasing and decreasing) number patterns with a constant difference.
- identify the constant difference or gap and extend these number patterns by adding or subtracting the gap.
- solve word problems using growing or shrinking number patterns.
The students also had some time to practice their Math Facts while playing Soldier Salute.
Science
The students are working very hard on their Rocks and Minerals lapbooks. They have really enjoyed putting the information about rocks and minerals together in such a fun way. This week we focused on learning about the rock cycle and discussing the difference between rocks and minerals.
The students continue to enjoy our "rock talk" time each day.
Chromebooks
The students continue to work on their keyboarding skills using the Typing Club website.
Have a great Sunday everyone and .............
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